Up until recently, a wedding was no place for reinvention: everything from the location to the outfits to the language of the ceremony was pre-decided by our particular cultures, religions, and social expectations of gender and domestic roles. And of course, many of us were unable to get married at all. Now, gay marriage is legal; heterosexual couples can have civil partnerships; and couples can get hitched in a yurt or a cave or on a rollercoaster.

But the old traditions die hard, and despite these apparent new freedoms, the word "wedding" still retains so many connotations, controlling our imaginations in ways that can feel alienating or limiting. The same can be said of the "wedding poem."

This poetry anthology aims to shake that up, featuring poems you won't find on any lists in a frantic Google search. Alternative poems for alternative weddings, be they small, huge, campy, glamorous, shot-gun, a third wedding held in a nursing home, or the low-key but profound culmination of a forty-year love. If you're looking for a non-cringey wedding poem, or wish to be reminded of the multiplicity of love, this is the book for you.